For Thought and Meditation - Saturday, November 19

Good morning all. This is a great message, read it twice. Have a safe and blessed day.

“When He Has Come”
By Oswald Chambers

When He has come, He will convict the world of sin… —John 16:8

Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned…” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary— nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.

Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

Amen, I praise God for saving me and giving me a new life!

Another poor message from Chambers.

"The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else."

Does Chambers believe God did not show His love before Christ was crucified? God created man in His image and with a soul. Is that not love? He wanted man to join Him in heaven before Christ came on the scene....is that not love? I could go on but what is the point.

I try not to throw the baby out with the bath water, but Chambers tends to have a lot of bath water in his messages.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dverna

Another poor message from Chambers.

"The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else."

Does Chambers believe God did not show His love before Christ was crucified? God created man in His image and with a soul. Is that not love? He wanted man to join Him in heaven before Christ came on the scene....is that not love? I could go on but what is the point.

I try not to throw the baby out with the bath water, but Chambers tends to have a lot of bath water in his messages.

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No, Don. The Old Testament believers did so in the faith of a coming savior. Jesus Christ was co-equal in the trinity for an eternity past, in perfect communion with the Father and the Spirit. "My God, My God, Why hast though forsaken me" was the cry of the breaking of that eternal communion. It is the ultimate love of God that put that in motion that we might be saved. Yes, God's love was shown in other ways, but this was the ultimate. In no other way is that level of Love shown.

Jhn 1:14-18

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Yes on the cross of calvary, yes that he dwelt among men and showed us the face of God the father.